This story has been amended. Mr. Nanni believes kindergarten, not preschool, should be made mandatory.

Editor's note: The third in a series profiling the candidates for state representative in the 16th Worcester District.

Daniele Nanni is a busy man.

Currently a pharmacy buyer for Critical Care Systems in Shrewsbury and running for the position of state representative, he has taken exams to become a teacher and has helped establish a business plan for friends who are opening a pizza shop on Grafton Street.

At 30 years old, he owns a home on Commonwealth Avenue and is engaged to be married.

Mr. Nanni will be on the Aug. 13 primary ballot to decide which Democratic candidate will face off against Republican Carol Claros to represent the 16th Worcester District. His opponents include Khrystian King, Daniel M. Donahue, James M O'Brien and Joshua Perro. The primary will be followed by an election on Sept. 10.

The owner of a handgun he uses for sport, Mr. Nanni said he believes in the Second Amendment.

"Massachusetts does have some of the strictest gun laws in the US," he said. "It's damn near impossible" to get a gun permit in the state if a person has been convicted of a crime, he said.

He thinks that a continued focus on background checks is necessary for those seeking a firearms identification card, and that the best way to prevent gun violence is to have more stringent federal laws on gun control.

Mr. Nanni offered several thoughts on ways to cut down the crime rate in the area.

"No. 1: We need to focus on early childhood education," he said. "High absentees in kindergarten are more likely to become high school dropouts" and therefore are more likely to be arrested.

If elected, Mr. Nanni said, he would propose a bill that would make attendance mandatory for kindergarten pupils. Mandatory attendance would not extend to preschoolers. (This paragraph has been amended from its original version.)

His second strategy for reducing the crime rate would be to ensure funding continues for police foot patrols in the area. He believes the program has been a "great success" so far, and said the focus needs to ensure that it is preventing crime and not just dispersing it to other areas such as Upper Grafton Hill.

Lastly, Mr. Nanni mentioned the Oak Hill Community Development Corp. as a way to "clean up the community."

He said encouraging those "well-established agencies" would help rid the area of crime.

"Absentee landlords need to be held accountable," Mr. Nanni said when asked what he would do about foreclosed homes.

Mr. Nanni said that if elected he would sit down with the appropriate people and work to establish solutions.

He also agreed with Mr. Donahue's proposal to clean up busy Route 20 to attract businesses and spark economic growth.

He said he also wants to take a closer look at taxes applied to small businesses and wants to "examine every line item and look at what is needed and what is not."

And "as long as the pros outweighed the cons," he said in regards to a slots parlor proposal in the area, "I would not be opposed ... to anything that increased revenue to the state."

Mr. Nanni is in favor of reinstating the death penalty for "serious offenses," such as terrorism, and/or the "most violent offenders that cannot be rehabilitated."

"We have to look at the cost" of the process for holding someone in jail for life versus prosecuting them for the death penalty, he said.

He pointed out that he is the son of Italian immigrants and small-business owners. His mother owns Sylvia's Hair Fashions on Grafton Street, just around the corner from the house he grew up in, on Trahan Avenue. His father ran a home construction business for many years.

Mr. Nanni said he started working when he was about 13 years old, passing out coupons for a pizza shop that opened just up the street from his parents' home.

He said he started working in the cafeteria at UMass Medical Center while attending Holy Name Junior Senior High School and later did work in the pharmacy. The Worcester State University graduate eventually jumped into the purchasing side of the operation.

After the meningitis outbreak last year, the state did surprise audits at 37 specialty pharmacies.

"My job was on the line," Mr. Nanni said.

He added, though, that he "runs a tight ship" and that the Shrewsbury pharmacy was one of four investigated that were found to be "fully compliant" with the industry's safety standards.

Mr. Nanni said he is different from the other candidates because he has "no political ties," with the exception of running as a Democrat, and has no political endorsements.

Mr. Nanni has trailed in fundraising. In his mid-year campaign finance report filed July 10 with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, he had raised $6,635, the lowest amount of any candidate in the race.

However, an updated OCPF finance report provided by the campaign that spans July shows that the campaign has been able to rally since that point, and now has raised about $11,400.